Thomson Scores in Rangers 3-1 Loss

Ben Thomson scored the lone goal for the Kitchener Rangers as they fell 3-1 to the Belleville Bulls on Friday night. The goal extended Thomson's scoring streak to three in three games.

Both goaltenders perfect through the opening 20 minutes with Malcolm Subban stopping nine shots for the Bulls and Rangers starter Franky Palazzese making 10 saves.

Garrett Hooey broke the scoreless deadlock late in the middle frame, putting the Bulls up 1-0. With the teams playing 4-on-4, the third year centre caught Palazzese out of position and netted the puck into an open cage. Defencemen Jake Cardwell and Stephen Silas earned assists on Hooey's fifth of the year.

Belleville continued to lead shots on goal 15-10 in the second period.

Carter Sandlak extended the Bulls lead to 2-0 early in the third, firing a high shot over Palazzese for his third of the season. Hooey collected his second point of the night with a helper on the play. The second assist was credited to import winger Sergey Kuptsov.

The Rangers cut their deficit in half 46 seconds later when the puck bounced off the end boards, on to the stick of Ben Thomson. The veteran forward lifted a shot over the glove hand of Subban to tally his third goal in as many games. Matia Marcantuoni collected an assist on Thomson's sixth of the year, his fourth point in four outings.

Bulls captain Brendan Gaunce re-established his team's two-goal advantage with just over 12 minutes to play. Aaron Berisha set up the Vancouver Canucks prospect's ninth of the season. Overager Joseph Cramarossa extended his point streak to six games with his assist on the play.

Belleville out-shot Kitchener 16-15 in the final frame and finished the contest with a 40-35 overall advantage.

Scoring

2. BELV G. Hooey, (5) (J. Cardwell, S. Silas), 16:44

3. BELV C. Sandlak, (3) (G. Hooey, S. Kuptsov), 3:43

3. KIT B. Thomson, (6) (M. Marcantuoni), 4:29

3. BELV B. Gaunce, (9) (A. Berisha, J. Cramarossa), 7:52

Attendance: 7305

Three Stars

1. BELV - 24 Garrett Hooey

2. BELV - 30 Malcolm Subban

3. KIT - 15 Ben Thomson

The Kitchener Rangers home stand continues on Sunday, December 9 with a 7:00pm game against the Ottawa 67's. Tickets to Rangers home games are available by phone at 519-578-1570 or 1-800-265-8977, via the internet at www.centre-square.com or in person at the Centre In the Square Box Office or the Kitchener Auditorium Box Office.